NASA Is Looking for Volunteers to Spend a Year Pretending They’re on the Moon or Mars
· Vice
If you’ve always dreamed of going on a NASA mission to the Moon or even Mars, well, your chances are pretty slim. But maybe you’ll have better luck signing up for a simulation instead. NASA has announced that it’s looking for four volunteers willing to spend a year pretending they’re headed to another world.
The Moon and Mars Exploration Analog, or MMEA, begins “no earlier than August 2027” at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The mission combines two of NASA’s previous simulation programs into one long experiment designed to mimic the entire journey, including travel through space, living on the planet for an extended period, and the trip back.
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Want to Go to Mars? NASA Is Looking for Volunteers to Pretend for a Year
All told, the participants will spend 12 months inside cramped, claustrophobic habitats, with another two months of training and post-mission evaluations. They’ll have to grow their own food, perform fake spacewalks, operate a rover, and do it all while managing a limited set of supplies, and all while adapting to the Martian day/night cycle, which is 40 minutes longer than it is on Earth.
Researchers will monitor everything from physical health to sleep patterns and crew dynamics, hoping to better prepare astronauts for future Artemis missions and the first human expedition to Mars.
There is a small catch: you’ll need “astronaut-like qualifications” if you even want to be considered, which include a STEM degree or a bachelor’s degree in engineering or biological science. Some comparable military experience can work, too. On top of that, you need to be a US citizen or permanent resident, speak English fluently, and be between 30 and 55 years old.
You’ll also need to be psychologically fit enough for the journey, since you’ll be going a year without fresh air or sunshine, a pair of things we all desperately require yet still take for granted. You may never get to step foot on the Moon or Mars, but if you’ve got what it takes, you can fake it in about as realistic a simulation as you’re ever going to find on Earth.
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